Commission backs airport wait reduction project

Horizon 2020 is backing a new project aimed at reducing passenger waiting time at airports.

The €4.6m ‘Personalised Airport Systems for Seamless Mobility and Experience’, or PassMe, project aims to cut the time that travellers wait in an airport by at least one hour, from entering the departure hall to leaving the airport upon arrival at their destination.

The venture will aim to reduce the time that passengers are able to drop and collect their hold luggage to 30 minutes, as well as cut queue times at key points in the airport to less than ten minutes. Further project goals include the realisation of smart boarding systems, increasing access to important information that passengers need, and progressing the quality of door-to-door experience for at least 70% of passengers.

The ‘Research and Innovation Action’ project is drawing almost all of its funding from Horizon 2020 and is being co-ordinated by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Other partners in the consortium include the UK’s University of Nottingham, the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems in Greece and the Technical University of Hamburg in Germany, and the project runs from 2015 to 2018.